


Everglow

by eyasarcher



Series: Shorts [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Clint Needs a Hug, Clint pines, M/M, Past Phlint, Soulmates, Steve is a mother hen, Stony - Freeform, Wanda Is A Good Bro, this is mostly from Bucky's pov I guess, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 17:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9451310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyasarcher/pseuds/eyasarcher
Summary: It's all Sharon's fault. (In the best way possible)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kno/gifts).



“Is Clint okay?” Steve struts into Natasha’s side, briefly leaning in to place a careful kiss on her cheek, his eyes on the archer the whole time.

Stood beyond the glass propped against the balcony railing is Clint, looking rather sombre. His eyes are firmly on the city mapped out in front of him, he knows that he’s gone a-miss, his teammates aren’t stupid, but he can’t stand this whole thing.

“As much as this is a celebration for us, it’s also a time to mourn.” Natasha sighs before taking a sip of her wine. “Five years since New York means five years since Coulson. He was more than just Clint’s handler.”

“Were they….” Steve shrugs a little, his mind wondering to Tony.

“I don’t think so, but Clint is convinced they were soulmates. He acts like he doesn’t care, but I feel that he’s rather lonely.”

“Not all people end up with their soulmates anyway,” the captain counters, a feeling of sadness washing over him as he tries to imagine the turmoil Clint is dealing with. He can’t imagine losing Tony, especially with a bond as strong as theirs.

“Try telling him that.” Natasha says, a sad sigh passing her lips.

On the other side of the room is Bucky, he’s still new to the whole ‘being an avenger’ thing, never mind having to attend some kind of anniversary for a fight he wasn’t even out of cryo for. He takes a sharp swig of his drink, his eyes following Wanda around the room. She’s the only other person looking just as awkward as Bucky feels. Sam wasn’t on the team back then either, but he’s busy participating in a bragging contest with Thor and Rhodey.

His eyes of course end up stumbling upon Steve and Nat just as Tony walks up and hooks his arms around the captain’s waist. Bucky has to look away, a sharp twinge pinging in his chest. He never loved Steve, not in the way soulmates are supposed to, but it’d just been him and Steve for so long that watching him with close friends, being in love, it hurt Bucky because it reminded him of just how much time had passed.

For so long Bucky had been convinced that he and Steve were platonic soulmates, something rare but not unheard of. But recovering his memories and his past, also meant putting missing pieces together. When Bucky was re-immersed into cryo freeze five years ago, Steve was busy getting acquainted with their old friends’ son, thus leading to the pair bonding. And now here he is, without a soulmate and feeling a whole lot of self-pity for the fact that he can’t get drunk.

“You and Barton should hang out sometime.”

Bucky frowns in confusion before looking up at Sharon who has appeared behind the bar, obviously in the midst of making herself a cocktail.

“What?”

She peers up and huffs a laugh before nodding towards the balconies, prompting Bucky to quickly turn. He clocks Hawkeye- Barton, slouched against the balcony looking pretty miserable.

“Clint? I haven’t really spoken to him.” Bucky almost bites. He finds himself feeling almost constantly defensive since moving to the tower, like he has to justify all of his actions and emotions.

“And that’s what I’m talking about. I think you two are pretty evenly matched. What with the whole brainwashed assassin thing and the constantly looking like a kicked puppy, you two’d get on.”

Bucky sends the agent a sharp glare before taking another swig of his drink, choosing to ignore the tugging feeling around his gut. He didn’t know Barton had ever been brainwashed.

“Probably got something to do with why he’s looking so damn pissed. This is meant to be a celebration over the victory of the battle of New York. But Clint had a huge role to play under the influence of Loki, he believes that if he’d never been brainwashed, that maybe the whole thing could have been avoided.”

“Sounds a bit narcissistic if you ask me. He’s just one guy, I’m sure there were a lot of things that caused that battle, not just him being out of his mind.”

“Now who does that remind you of?” Sharon ducks into Bucky’s line of sight and raises an eyebrow. The assassin rolls his eyes and twists on his seat to leave. “Just talk to him some when, he’s a cool guy.”

 

* * *

 

Normally when Bucky wonders onto the communal floor at three in the morning and finds someone there, he leaves more for the feeling of obligation than not wanting to talk. But when he pads in this morning, he notes Clint, the usual suspect. Except this time he finds himself thinking about what Sharon had said a few nights back, and decides to move further into the room.

Clint, who is propped against the kitchen counter is quite surprised at the sight of a rather ragged looking Bucky Barnes creeping in, and from behind his steaming coffee mug he raises an eyebrow to which the other man just shrugs.

“Figured it’s probably about time that I stopped running away at the sight of anyone who isn’t Steve or Natasha.” Bucky offers carefully, unsure of the other man. But quite surprisingly Clint chuckles and drops his mug to the counter top.

“I know that feeling… You want a coffee?”

Bucky finds that Clint doesn’t react like the other avengers he’s encountered so far. He’s not timid or nervous, doesn’t talk to Bucky like he’s a child or a pet, instead he’s normal, completely at ease and seemingly undeterred.

“Can’t sleep?” Bucky approaches the other man who now has his back to the assassin as he makes coffee. Another factor Bucky finds surprising, not even Nat turns her back to him.

“Nah. Not a fan. Do you have sugar or milk or anything?”

“No. None of that crap. Just a strong black cup is enough for me.” Clint laughs at that and swivels back to face the man, a filled mug extended in an offer. Bucky takes the time to map out each line of Barton’s face. He’s certainly not unattractive, from his muscly frame and strong stature, to the gentle curves of the archer’s face. But beyond all of that there’s a kind of blankness to the man’s eyes that gives Bucky and insight into the resident sharp shooter, he feels like he knows the man, from somewhere deep in his own mind. “Thanks.”

Clint smiles before leaving Bucky to find a place on the sofa on the opposite side of the room. Bucky watches with a growing sense of curiosity.

“Wanna come watch some crappy late night TV? There’s usually some weird 60’s cartoons on the kids channels this time of the night. They’re always quite amusing.”

Bucky stares at the sofa, just seeing Clint’s feet kicked up against the arm. And he finds himself moving before he can stop himself, being pulled in by some unknown force somewhere in the folds of his mind. Clint seems different to the others, more like Bucky’s kind of guy. Someone who he’d probably hang out with, maybe even fuck back in the day.

“Sure.”

* * *

 

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a complete disaster?”

Clint, who is sprawled across the sofa lying on his front, groans into Natasha’s lap and dramatically swings his legs up to make room for Bucky.

“I tell him every week.” Nat says past a smirk, her fingers gently raking through the archers cropped blonde hair. “Guess who managed to shoot himself with an arrow during training today?”

Bucky frowns before jabbing at Clint’s leg bringing yet another disgruntled sound out of the man.

“Only you can manage that.”

Clint grunts before twisting in Natasha’s lap, his legs flopping down on Bucky just in time for the assassin to pass his coffee between his hands, narrowly avoiding drenching the trio and Tony’s lovely expensive couch.

“Look, I didn’t think that it was going to come back-“

“Clint, is was a boomerang arrow.” Natasha’s smirk is widening, threatening to become a laugh.

“It was only a prototype,” the archer huffs and folds his arms against his chest to send Bucky a glare.

“Whoa, don’t send me the snake eyes, pal. Where’d you shoot yourself anyway?”

Clint’s face flushes red, his head ducking into Nat’s lap as the laughter slips past her lips. Clint reaches back and digs and elbow into her hip, earning himself a slap around the head.

“Please don’t tell me you shot yourself in the ass….” Bucky is somewhere between impressed and dumbfounded.

“Shut up, Barnes.” Clint rolls off of the sofa and gingerly gets up, abandoning the pair. Bucky watches with raised eyebrows, still feeling somewhat impressed with the sniper.

“If you make him a coffee he’ll be sufficiently less grumpy.” Natasha is watching Bucky with a careful stare, a small smile sitting on her lips.

“What?”

“Go make him a coffee.”

“Why-“

“Just trust me.”

* * *

 

“Buck, it’s been three days. You need to get out of this room.” Steve is restless, hopping between feet as he contemplates his usual morning run with Sam or staying to look after his friend.

“Go Stevie, I’ll be fine.” Bucky rolls further into bed, his unwashed hair falling across his face to hide the dark circles hanging from his eyes.

“Buck, I worry about you. You’ve been pent up in here for days. You should get out-“

“Steve. I don’t want to. Just go away.”

The captain sighs before moving across the room and falling onto the bed, his eyes trying to find Bucky’s.

“Buck, don’t make me force feed you. At least have some food and a shower, and then maybe think about going down to the range for a bit. I can make you some breakfast-“

“I’ll eat and wash if you go out for a run. You haven’t been out either Stevie, it’s not fair you having to stay around to babysit me.”

“It’s not like that Bucky. I’m happy to be here with you.”

“Is Stark?”

“What?”

Bucky rolls back to face Steve, a deep frown glued to his features.

“Tony. I think he’d probably like to see you for more than five minutes.”

Steve falls silent, his expression becoming solemn and dark. Bucky feels guilty at the sight of his best friend looking all broken and sad. He reaches out to place a steadying hand on Steve’s shoulder, bringing a tiny smile out of the man.

“Go for your run. I’ll grab a shower and have some food.”

“Promise?” Steve watches his friend carefully for any signs of a lie.

“Promise.”

Steve leaves after that, somewhat reluctantly. And once Bucky finds the effort he showers and finds himself feeling surprisingly refreshed.

He heads to the communal floor in the hopes of peace and quiet, but that’s shattered when the elevator doors open to Thor and Peter playing the X-Box, the god cursing loudly every time the youngster throws a decent punch in their game of Tekken.

And Bucky almost turns back around right there, but then the scent of fresh bacon hits him, and it’s then that he notices Wanda and Clint, Maximoff stood at the hob frying bacon whilst Clint hovers nearby, practically drooling through his hunger.

Barnes timidly steps onto the floor, his quiet steps not gaining any attention until he’s directly behind the pair in the kitchen, a croaky hello falling past his dry lips. Clint peers around Wanda, and the smile that was on his face falters, falling away a little.

“Good morning James.” Wanda doesn’t look, but Bucky can hear the smile in her voice. “Can I interest you in a bacon sandwich? It appears that I’m now feeding the whole team,” she says somewhat begrudgingly.

“Urm I’m fine-” of course that’s the moment that his stomach rumbles giving him away. “I guess I could eat.”

“He can have mine.”

Bucky’s head snaps up, his eyes firmly on Clint. Their gaze meets and the archer offers him a gentle half smile.

“You’re letting someone else have first dibs!?” Wanda’s looking at the other man now, her mouth hanging open a little. “You’re the one that hassled me in the first place.”

“It’s okay, Clint. I can wait-“

“Nope.” Barton steps backwards to swing around and grab his coffee cup. “I insist.”

And with that moves out of the room to join the pair on the sofas, and leaving behind a rather shocked Wanda, and a confused Bucky.

“How odd.” Wanda exclaims, looking from Clint to the food, and then to Bucky. “Oh…”

“What?” Bucky frowns, wondering if he’s got something on his face. Wanda flushes red and quickly turns back to the pan, ignoring Barnes completely.

Weird.

* * *

 

“Wanda, leave it out.”

“You should do something about it, I can’t bare to sit here watching you do this to yourself.”

Bucky and Steve exchange a confused glance before the two enter into the range, pushing the door fully open prompting the conversation between Wanda and Clint to fall flat.

“Christ Clint, are you okay!?” Bucky is somewhat relieved that Steve doesn’t just flap over him.Clint rolls his eyes and huffs before giving Wanda a glare, she’s cradling his hands in a damp towel, crimson dotting the white of the material.

“Well at least he didn’t shoot himself in the ass this time.” Bucky chuckles, earning himself a pointed glare from the archer.

“What did you do?” Steve asks as he moves to crouch beside the man, who in response sighs and tries to tug his hands away from Wanda.

“He’s been down here for four hours.” Wanda doesn’t look at Steve when she’s speaking instead her eyes are on Bucky making him feel very uneasy about the whole situation.

“Jeeze, Clint. I thought we were past this-“

“Steve. Don’t.” Clint warns, his voice more solemn and flat than usual. Something twinges in Bucky’s chest as he looks over the man. Barton looks tired and worn out, his eyes sunken back and dark against the pale plains of his face.

Clint had told him before that shooting is his catharsis, it’s how he gets out a lot of those pent up feelings. So clearly something is bothering the man, maybe he’s having nightmares again, but that wouldn’t make much sense given that Bucky’s spent the past few nights with him watching films.

“Bucky. Could you maybe take him up to the med bay for me? I was meant to be meeting up with Vision for lunch.”

Clint’s head snaps to look at Wanda, the frown on his face thickening as a slouch forms in his shoulders, and Bucky would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit offended by how Clint seems to react to that idea.

“Sure. Me and Steve were only going over some basic training, we can push it back.”

“You don’t have to.” Clint stutters.

“C’mon, buddy.” Bucky moves to nudge at Clint’s shoulder, willing him to move from the bench. Wanda moves her hands to accommodate Bucky’s, giving him a gentle smile as she does.

“Thank you, James. I owe you.”

Clint huffs again and stands up, Bucky’s hands now tightly clasped around the damp towels. He’s suddenly very aware of how warm Clint is, the heat is coming off his body in waves and there’s a tremble to frame.

“You going to be okay, Buck?” Steve’s got his concerned face on, one that Bucky is all too used to seeing.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

The two reach the med bay only to find that Bruce has vacated for the day, and that the rooms are empty and quiet.

“Sit down.” Bucky offers as the two make a beeline for the nearest room. Clint plonks himself onto the edge of the bed, and as Bucky starts rummaging around for antiseptic spray, gauze pads, and the stuff he needs for stitches, he notes that Clint is still silent, just like he had been for the entire journey up to the med bay.

“You okay over there, Barton? You’re uncharacteristically quiet.”

Clint snorts and for a brief moment there’s a smile on his lips, but it’s gone almost as quickly as it came.

“Yeah, just got a lot on my mind.”

Bucky picks up a handful of equipment and spreads it across the nearby trolley, his eyes briefly finding Clint’s.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Clint goes to open his mouth, but instead of saying anything he just sighs, his shoulders slumping. “Let’s get this sorted first and then I’ll talk.” Clint extends his wrapped up hands, to which Bucky simply rolls his eyes and begins to unwrap the towels.

The open wounds have mostly done bleeding, but they’re definitely going to need disinfecting, and a couple of the wounds will need a few stitches. Bucky is very gentle with the way that he takes Clint’s hands, even if the archer does flinch at the cold of his metal limb.

“You know, Barton. I think you’re the most accident prone person I’ve ever met.” Bucky says just as he tucks his flesh hand into Clint’s to keep it steady, and suddenly there’s a rushing sensation in Bucky’s veins, a red hot feeling deep in his bones, and it forces a gasp out of the man as he recoils, his eyes quickly finding Clint’s.

Did they just bond!?

“What the fuck.” Clint exclaims as he clutches his hands to his chest, his eyes all wide and doe like. “Bucky…”

“That wasn’t just me right? You felt that too?!”

Clint nods frantically, his pupils blown wide with the sensation sat in the pit of his stomach. His skin is all prickly and weird, his heart thumping so fast in his chest.

“Wanda said…” Clint trails off, his eyes quickly dropping to the floor. And it’s not long before the cogs start to turn in Bucky’s mind, Clint liked him? – Likes – him.

“Oh,” is all the assassin can say, his whole body still reeling from what just happened. He’s said it before, there’s no denying how attractive Clint is, and now that he starts to think about it, maybe he does have a little bit of crush on the archer, nothing he would have considered serious, because jesus Christ, how was he meant to be with someone when he hasn’t even regained all of his sanity yet?

“Okay. This is fine. We can totally work with this.” Clint looks anywhere but at Bucky, his face all serious and sad. “We’ll just pretend this never happened,” he extends his hands towards Bucky again, still not looking at him. Bucky frowns and watches the other man for a moment before taking his hands, the warm sensation making its way through his fingers again.

“Clint, this isn’t something we can ignore-“

“Yes we can, it’s fine.”

Bucky picks up the disinfectant spray and gently begins to lather it across Clint’s tormented skin, his eyes flickering between his work and Clint.

“But what if I don’t want to?” he all but whispers, his hands slowing to ghost across the ridges of Clint’s knuckles. This is something way out of his comfort zone, he had no idea how to love anyone, sure he was lonely and it’d been a long time since he’d felt the warmth of another person, but Clint was his soulmate, and even he doesn’t sort this now he’s going to lose a friend, and an opportunity.

“You don’t have to do this, Bucky. I’ve dealt with the whole unrequited thing before, I can do it again.” Clint looks at the man now, his grey eyes stormy and dark, and a sadness still hiding behind his irises.

“Don’t you want me?” Bucky pushes, he knows that of course Clint wants him, soulmates spend their entire lives looking for each other and bonding affirms that, but he’s pushing for the archer to see past his insecurities, because if Bucky can do it, he knows Clint can too.

“You know it’s not that. I just….” Clint sniffs a little and laughs bitterly at the situation, his fingers curling around Bucky’s. “I’m not good for you.”

And Bucky actually laughs, almost hysterically in fact. He grabs at Clint’s hands a little tighter being careful of the cuts and bruises there.

“Why? Because you’ve been through the ringer? Because you’re broken? Because you’re still trying to find yourself?” Clint watches carefully, his expression completely flat. Bucky moves to touch Clint’s face his fingers delicate and soft.  “We can do this together because to hell if I know how to deal with this situation any better than you do!”

Clint laughs a little and nuzzle slightly into Bucky’s touch, his breath hitching a little as he does.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @kno for this prompt. They asked to have Clint and Bucky as soulmates, with Clint believing that Coulson might have been his soulmate. I hope this is okay!  
> I'd like to formally apologise for any typos, you know me, the typo queen!  
> Anyways, I've had lots of fun writing this and if anyone has any prompts they'd like to see filled, please pop ideas in the comments.  
> Thanks again for kudos and feedback, love you all!  
> Sophie


End file.
